


Valley High Class of 2005's Decade Reunion

by MagusLibera



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: BAMF Felicity Smoak, Closure, F/M, High School Reunion, Oliver Queen In Love, Post-Season/Series 03, Revenge, School Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagusLibera/pseuds/MagusLibera
Summary: Felicity manages to ignore the invitation to her high school reunion for months. Then, in a brief interlude to their summer of love in Starling, Oliver finds it and convinces her to go.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 57
Kudos: 250





	Valley High Class of 2005's Decade Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally by loophole idea for the High School Q&C prompt. It isn't anymore but I wanted to write it anyway.
> 
> A whole bucket of thanks to Joy and Lexi and Cerys and Lettie and Mandy for bolstering me through this when it got way out of hand. My self control is officially dead, this is about thrice as long as I had intended.
> 
> And, yes, this is me realising that the 26th is also on a Friday this year like it was in 2015 and I should definitely have waited for two days to post this but here we are.

The invite arrives the day after Oliver returns home, alive, and Felicity tells him that she has no wish to be a woman he loves when she discovers that he has aligned himself with Malcolm Merlyn. The man who manipulated Moira Queen for years. The man who brainwashed Thea Queen, his own daughter. The man who killed Sara Lance.

On that day, Felicity is a mess. Not only has she come to the realisation that the man she loves and who has professed his love for her will never choose her mere hours after she learnt that he was not dead and she might have the chance to return his declaration of love after all. But she has also experienced a shift in her world view. For the past two and a half years she and Oliver have had a complicated relationship, to say the least. She has never put him on a pedestal, but she has also never had any doubt that he is doing what needs to be done, that he has the makings of a hero, that he is a hero. Now, she doubts. There is no situation in the world that she could imagine justifying an alliance with that man and the fact that Oliver is trying to is almost too much for her.

So, naturally, going through her mail is not exactly her main priority and the letter with the simple crest of her old high school printed upon it ends up at the bottom of her stack of unimportant mail. It remains there, forgotten, through the chaotic months to follow.

***************************

By June twentieth, Oliver and Felicity have been travelling the country together for over a month and are preparing to take their adventures abroad. Before they head off, they have decided to pay a visit home to say hello to Thea and John (though only Felicity goes to visit the Diggles as John is still not ready to talk to Oliver) and to pack anything that they might need whilst they are away. The downside of being home is the huge stack of mail that awaits them.

It is Oliver who offers to make his way through the pile as Felicity sets things in place for her departure with Palmer Tech. Things at Palmer Tech are still very much in flux, with the board constantly questioning her rights and ability to take over and her not being there most of the time is making it very hard for her to prove her capabilities. There are a lot of letters stacked in there, but he eventually finishes sorting through it all. To his surprise, there is an unopened letter stuffed right at the bottom with the sign of a Vegas based high school. It sparks his curiosity more than anything else he has opened on Felicity’s behalf as he recognises that this is the school that his girlfriend had attended before making her way to MIT.

_Valley High School_

_CLASS OF 2005_

_Ten Year Reunion_

It is an invitation to Felicity’s high school reunion, which is due to happen on June twenty-sixth. Less than a week away. Images of a little Felicity Smoak, younger than anybody else in her classes, with her trademark glasses and brown hair (looking remarkably identical to how Oliver has imagined their potential future children) fill Oliver’s mind. He wants to go. He _has_ to go. He will take any opportunity he can to learn more about Felicity and her life. This chance to get a glimpse into her short time attending high school is not one that he can pass up.

Especially since it means going to Vegas which will let him see the place that she grew up in from her perspective rather than as the insanely rich playboy looking for a weekend of fun that he had been last time he went there. And it also means that Felicity will have to stop delaying formally introducing him to her mother as her boyfriend and letting him get to know the incredible woman who gave birth to and almost solely raised the love of his life. The woman who also stood up to Cooper Seldon when he had her tied to a chair at gunpoint just because he went after Felicity. Safe to say, Oliver is very eager to get to know the woman he one day hopes to make his mother in law.

*************************

When Felicity returns home that evening, she is met at the door by an extremely puppy-like Oliver Queen. He is practically bouncing up and down as he waits for her to get settled back home, holding something behind his back and Felicity knows that she is either about to have a lot of fun or she is going to have to talk her boyfriend down from whatever crazy idea he has got into his head.

“Okay.” She finally acknowledges, still confused as to what it may be since she knows that he has just been reading and sorting mail all day, “What has you so excited?”

“This!” he thrusts a letter into her hands. It takes her a minute to recognising it, but the name of her high school scrawled on the upper corner of the envelope jolts her memory back to that awful day months ago.

Felicity is hesitant as she opens it, not knowing quite what to expect. She has not heard anything from her high school since she graduated ten years ago. _Ten years ago_. There is a glossy piece of card inside and on it is her worst nightmare.

_You are invited to the…_

_… Friday, June 26 th…_

_…Dinner, Drinks & Dancing_

Suddenly Oliver’s excitement makes a lot more sense. He has been bugging her for ages about her childhood, begging for their next destination to be Las Vegas so that they can visit her mother. And here is what must be to him the perfect excuse get her to give in.

Felicity has been desperately putting Vegas off, not quite ready to divulge to Oliver – who was, no doubt, the most popular boy in school in addition to being the richest – just how hard her school years were. Middle school had been difficult enough, but high school had been a whole different experience. She had been a fifteen year old graduating in a class of seventeen and eighteen year olds. And, to top that, she had been insular and private with very few friends – none of whom attended her high school – thanks to having skipped two grades and being able to communicate better with computers than people.

It is not that she wants to stop Oliver from spending time her mother, a big part of her is desperate to bring two of them together. But she is also not ready to be on the receiving end of daily calls from her mother about ‘putting a ring on that handsome billionaire’. Donna Smoak is notorious for talking for what seems like forever about absolutely nothing whenever she is on the phone and even when Felicity ignores the calls, she looks down to find voicemails over ten minutes long awaiting her. Who even leaves voicemails anymore?

She also has absolutely no desire to spend any time with a single one of her old classmates. Half of them devoted a good portion of their time to torturing her and making her days miserable and the rest stood back and watched it happen, even encouraging it on many occasions. Not one person ever stood up for her or consoled her after or anything. Not even the other students who had also been on the wrong side of the popular kid for whom upsetting less popular ones was considered good fun. Though, to be fair to them, they were probably terrified of their situation becoming even worse if they got involved with her.

High school had been three years of misery for Felicity. She had always been fine on her own, she had never needed any friends, but she always _wanted_ some. Just one person to talk to and confide in who was her own age. Instead, all she had were the people who tolerated her long enough for her to tutor them and the bouncers and old ladies who worked at and gambled at the casinos her mother used to work in. The former of which may explain her initial draw and easy love for Diggle.

As Felicity slides the invite back into the envelope she looks up at Oliver’s eager face, loathe to wipe the excitement from it but also adamant that she will not attend this reunion. “Oliver,” she starts, formulating a way to ease him into understanding her position so that the disappointment will not be too great when they do not attend, “What was high school like for you?”

Oliver looks confused, but answers nonetheless, “School? Well, you already know about my grades but the rest of it was good I guess. Tommy and I were popular, we were athletic and rich and everybody wanted to hang out with us. Looking back, I realise that Tommy was probably my only true friend and that my behaviour was completely self-destructive and unhealthy, but back then I used to love it. We had the run of the school, we could get away with pretty much whatever we wanted since our parents basically funded the entire school, all of the prettiest girls wanted to date us. I got Prom King and Queen with Laurel. I went to parties and got drunk and high and it was what I thought was fun back then.”

“And what about the other kids at your school? The ones who weren’t popular and didn’t get to hang out with the great Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn?”

“What do you mean?” he looks at her, loving and perplexed.

“Every school has nerds, Oliver.” Felicity explains, “And I imagine that, at your school, they were also the scholarship kids with way less money than the rest of you. What happened to them? Did they get teased? Did people steal their lunch money?”

Regret passes over him, “Yeah. Yeah we used to tease them. Never stole anything from them, but we definitely made fun. I’m not proud of that, but I remember it happening.”

“And what do you think school was like for them?”

“I didn’t think about it.” He admits, “I never thought about what it was like on their end, whether they saw it as light hearted teasing or bullying, I just did it because it made the guys laugh. But I guess that school was a lot less fun for them.”

“School was miserable for us, Oliver.” Oliver’s eyes whip up, remorse being replaced by anger as he realises that Felicity _was_ one of those kids. That Felicity was bullied and spent her early teen years miserable but before he can say anything, she continues, “I was thirteen when I started high school. I skipped a grade and honestly I probably could have leapt right into sophomore year but I actually ended up just skipping sophomore year instead.

“The other kids never even gave me a chance. When they saw a thirteen year old already acing AP computer science and math and only being held back by her terrible PE grades, they saw a prime target and that never changed in the three years I spent there. I hated high school, Oliver. I had no friends, not even any allies and I spent every day just throwing myself into class and homework and tutoring and trying to avoid Susan Dodger and Rochelle Davis and Chad Duke and Rick Harvey and all of their friends and cronies so that I could get through the day unbothered.” Oliver’s eyes spark, cataloguing the names for later in such an obvious way that Felicity feels her eyes straining to roll.

“Well,” he starts.

At the same time, Felicity says, “So can you see why I don’t exactly fancy going back to Vegas to spend time with my childhood tormenters?”

“What?” Oliver looks shocked, which Felicity supposes is better than disappointed. “Felicity you _have_ to go.” He insists. Felicity glares at him, waiting for him to realise what he has said, “Well, you don’t _have_ to.” He amends, wiping the glare from Felicity, “But I really think it would be a bad choice if you didn’t. I think you’d regret it if you didn’t.”

“I think I’d regret it if I did. What could possibly make me lose my mind enough to put myself through all of that again?”

“But you wouldn’t be putting yourself through it again!” Oliver lights back up, obviously sensing a chance to both get what he wants, “Just think, if you don’t go everyone will just assume that you were too scared to or that your life sucks and you don’t want anybody to think that. Imagine how good it will feel to walk in with an ex-billionaire whose family’s company you are now the owner of after we got kicked out on your arm. To tell everyone you’re the CEO and you graduated from MIT with two master’s degrees when you were just nineteen! Felicity you are like the perfect example of a bullied child genius who grew into an incredibly successful and powerful woman all on her own. And not to mention the fact that you are the most gorgeous, sexy, wonderful person alive.”

Felicity cannot stop her eyes from rolling, “You’re my boyfriend, you have to say that.”

“Nope.” He pops the ‘p’ adorably, “I thought all of that and more a long time before you were my girlfriend.” He looks at her intensely, “Please, Felicity. I want to beat- uh, meet the people you went to school with. I want to see where you grew up and spend time with your mom and, most of all, I want to show everybody who was ever jealous or intimidated or ignorant enough of you to treat you like that what they’re missing out on. What an amazing friend they stopped themselves from having, what an amazing girl they prevented themselves from dating. What an amazing woman they never gave themselves the chance to truly know. Think about what a thirteen year old Felicity would want. What she would do if you gave her the chance to face her bullies as the woman you are today.”

Felicity considers it for a moment. As miserable as she had been a decade ago, she had always been able to bear it, safe in the knowledge that she could do something big with her life and most of them would end up miserable. She had always convinced herself that they could never hurt her because they were not people she cared about but if, now, so many years later, she is still letting them dictate what she does or does not do, then perhaps that was a lie she told herself to get through. Perhaps she did care, because she did want a friend and perhaps, just perhaps, walking back through those halls as happy as she is now could be exactly what she both wants and needs to close the door on that chapter of her life forever.

“Okay.” She concedes, “Fine, book the tickets. But you’re organising _all_ of this.”

“Yes!” Oliver cheers, “This is going to be great, just think of all of the baby pics your mom is going to show me!”

“Baby pictures?” Felicity panics, “Who said anything about baby pictures? Oliver! Have you been texting my mother again?” she yells at the retreating figure practically skipping up the stairs to start travel preparations.

“Love you, Honey!” is his only response.

*************************

Within five days, Oliver has managed to book tickets to the reunion, organise flights and a hotel (Felicity insists that they will not be staying at Donna’s house and risking nightly suggestive winks and a smug grin and raised eyebrow every morning, even if it is only for two nights) and also get both of them outfits for the reunion. As the plane takes off, Oliver gives her a joyous glance, sliding his hand to hers so that he can engulf it and offer the comfort that she needs. Even after jumping from a plane and flying in a super suit, she is still terrified of heights. It is part of why she and Oliver decided to take the Porsche and go on a road trip instead of hopping from place to place via aeroplane.

She will have to get used to flying though, as the next stage of their travels will be heavily flight based as they travel from country to country. It will be worth it, though, if she gets to see Oliver shirtless and on beaches across the world as a result. And the different cultures. Those too.

Once their flight lands, Oliver wastes no time in dropping off their luggage at their hotel and hightailing it to the casino Donna Smoak is currently employed at. It is the same one that she worked when Felicity was home before senior year when she had just turned nineteen. When the bouncers at the doors spot Oliver and Felicity, one of them breaks into a grin, recognising the young woman. The man, Frank, has been working the place for over a decade and knew Felicity through all of the teenaged goth years. In many ways, he was a surrogate father to her whenever she was hanging around the casino waiting for her mom.

As soon as she is close enough, he engulfs Felicity in a hug and insists that she introduce him to Oliver. Felicity feels guilty for the fact that she has not visited her mother in her hometown in three years now. For as many bad memories that she has, there are good ones too. Like when she had taught Frank’s daughter how to code on his request and he rewarded her with free, unlimited junk food for a month. Or when he let her practise her card counting with a promise to make sure she would not get kicked out and banned.

Frank seems to like Oliver a lot, especially after the two of them start talking martial arts, which is a shared interest of theirs. The only way to drag Oliver away is to ask Frank for the location of Donna, which reminds him about what had initially brought them here.

“I liked him a lot.” Oliver claims as they make their way to the tables Donna is serving.

“You only liked him because he told you about what he did to Robbie Carter when he refused to take no for an answer when I was eighteen.” She rolls her eyes.

“No.” Oliver protest, “Well… okay, I admit that didn’t hurt but that guy had it coming. Even back in my pre-island asshole days I knew enough to stop following a woman around if she wasn’t interested. But I mean I like him because he clearly cares about you. A lot. And anybody who loves you is somebody worth talking to in my book.”

“Even Cooper?” Felicity teases.

Oliver’s eyes harden, “That’s not love anymore. Why did you never tell me about Frank?”

Felicity lets him change the topic, knowing that he is still furious about what happened last November with Cooper and it is best not to push him, “I just never really thought to. You know I’m not great about talking about my childhood.”

“Well, whenever you want to talk about it some more, I can’t wait to hear.”

*************************

Donna Smoak is as exuberant as Oliver remembers. He loves it. She is so happy to see Felicity (a feeling that he has some experience with) and she even throws her arms around him energetically, babbling just like Felicity does about how happy she is to see them both and how good it is that they are finally together and every little thing in between.

Just like Felicity feared, she soon starts to comment on what a fine specimen Felicity has picked up for herself and makes some less than subtle lewd remarks. Oliver finds it hilarious, particularly when Felicity’s face turns almost the same shade as that pen she had been chewing the first day they officially met. The same shade as the dress that she wore on their disastrous first date. Feeling this happy is still foreign to Oliver. He cannot remember ever being so genuinely content, not even before the island. Loving Felicity has truly changed his life.

*************************

The next day is spent mostly with Donna too, which she delights in. When Felicity slips off to deal with something from Palmer Tech around midday, she turns to Oliver, jumping on their first opportunity to be alone.

“How did you convince her to come?” she asks immediately.

“I convinced her that not going would be basically telling everyone that she didn’t make it and that the best revenge would be to show up happy and successful. I don’t know how much of what I said actually convinced her and how much was just her wanting to make me happy, but it worked either way.”

“And how much of it did you actually mean?” Donna asks, always more perceptive than she lets on.

Oliver smiles, “I meant it all. Doesn’t mean that’s all I meant though or that I didn’t have ulterior motives for getting her to go.”

“And what are those motives?” she presses.

“Well… let’s just say it would be a waste if I had all of these muscles and never took advantage of that.” He smirks.

“Oliver!” her eyes widen half in intrigue and half in shock.

“Don’t worry, Donna.” He reassures her, “I’m not going to do anything that could get me in trouble. With the law _or_ with Felicity.” He freezes for a moment, remembering an incident a few weeks prior that had led to her loud voice coming out. He definitely does not want to do anything to get in trouble with her again any time soon, “I just… if I could meet the people I used to hurt in the way that Felicity was hurt in high school knowing what I know now and somehow make it up to them for treating them like that then I would do it in a heartbeat. But I can’t do that right now so I’m at least going to make the people who mistreated the love of my life regret it. And even if I don’t get a chance to use my muscles to do it, I am still the number one Felicity Smoak cheerleader in the world. They’ll be begging to be her friend by the end of the night.”

Oliver knows that Donna approves of his plan before she ever opens her mouth, “Good.” Is all she says. And then Felicity returns and she pulls out the baby photos and the mood is light once again.

*************************

Felicity is a nervous wreck by the time she and Oliver are pulling up outside the Mirage, where her reunion is taking place. Somebody she used to go to school with must have gotten very rich in their adulthood to be able to afford a place like this. Other than Felicity, that is.

“I don’t think this was a good idea.” She stammers at Oliver when their taxi pulls up outside the hotel casino.

“I do.” Oliver insists, his voice reassuring. “Come on, I promise if everything goes wrong, I’ll make it up to you however you want.” He promises, pulling her from the car.

“However I want?” Felicity checks, suspicious as they start to walk to the entrance.

He nods, “However you want. I’d do anything for you in that dress.” He winks at her. It is a stunning dress, and since Oliver chose it and has zero subtlety, it is Arrow green.

“Even if I ask for Big Belly Burger every night for a month?” Felicity tests.

“Yep.”

“Even if I ask you to strip naked in the middle of the dance floor?”

Oliver laughs, knowing that she would never do that, “Especially if you ask me to strip naked in the middle of the dance floor.” He jokes.

“Even if asked you to strip naked and eat Big Belly Burger on the dance floor all at the same time?”

“Even then.” He leans down to offer a sweet kiss and it is only when he draws back that Felicity realises they are already in the hotel lobby and there is a large sign pointing them down a corridor with the chirpy text declaring ‘Valley High School Class of 2005 Reunion this way!’

Felicity cannot pinpoint exactly why, but even just reading that has her feeling annoyed and nervous. She has no idea who actually organised the event but she would bet a considerable portion of her fortune that it was one or more of her tormentors and that they were the ones who decided to add the preppy attitude to the directions. They finally reach the – oversized – ballroom that is already half full with Valley High survivors and Felicity almost darts from the room when she notices that the décor is almost identical to the horror of a prom Donna Smoak had forced Felicity to attend for a full two hours.

“Oliver,” she whines, “Oliver they decorated it like _prom_.” When he offers no sympathy and she looks up to see his eyes glittering as he looks at her like she is the most entertaining thing he has ever seen, she realises that he must not understand or else he would be suggesting that they leave around about now, “Oliver, most of them are nearly _thirty_! And they decorated it like _prom_ and prom was _terrible_.”

“Oh look, there’s the sign in desk.” Is all that he says, gleefully dragging her along with him.

*************************

The desk has name cards for the attendees lined up neatly, and a member of the Mirage staff waiting to take tickets and coats. Whoever planned all of this really did go all out. Oliver signs them in, Felicity still too traumatised by the neon pink streamers and general high school ambiance to focus on anything other than hanging off Oliver’s arm and making sure that nobody hears the complaints she is whispering into his ear and how much he owes her for dragging her to her reunion. For his part, he takes the threats of being added to the no-fly list so that he cannot join Felicity on their worldly travels in stride. He knows that she would do it, but he also knows that this is not quite awful enough to push her into doing it. He also feels pretty safe in the knowledge that he can get back in her good graces with merely a few good back rubs and some excellent sex. He is not worried, though his continued lack of worry depends whether the night goes the way he hopes or the way Felicity fears.

For about half an hour, things are going well. Oliver gets Felicity an expensive glass of red wine that seems to lift her spirits considerably and the two of them sit at the bar and watch the rest of her graduating class filter in. He convinces her to point out who is who and what they were like and what has changed about them and she looks like she is almost enjoying it. Most of the people are non-entities in her life. People who stood by and did nothing when she was bullied but who also never did anything directly to her. She also points out the guy who she beat for valedictorian rather smugly (apparently he had been a shoo-in until she skipped her way into their grade), the other students who suffered the wrath of the popular kids and she talks a little about what it had been like to be in classes with people up to five years older than her back when she had been a thirteen year old freshman in senior computer science classes.

Oliver asks her if she thinks that she will also be invited to the reunion of the class she started high school in – they are still a year older than her, but she had home room with them in the early days – and she says that she doubts it. Even if they did, she would not want to go, she tells him. But it is nice. It always is when the two of them get some time alone, but here they are in an environment that has Felicity’s high school memories brought to the forefront of her mind and even if all she means to do is tell him about her classmates, she keeps letting little things slip about herself that only serve to increase his adoration of her.

*************************

Things start to go downhill the minute that he and Felicity separate, as is always the case with them. Felicity slips off to the bathroom, leaving Oliver guarding their drinks at the bar in exchange for a promise of a dance. He sits there, minding his own business and looking out over the room, trying to spot the people he is there to see as he waits, only to hear a voice behind him, tipsy and holding back giggles, “Hey handsome, who are you looking for?”

He whips around, still conditioned enough by his time in the League to be hyper alert of potential dangers, and he sees her. Felicity pointed her out earlier and he committed her face to memory: Susan Dodger, the ringleader of the group that made it their mission to make Felicity miserable.

“Hello.” He replies, not willing to give anything away just yet, “Do I know you?”

“Oh my god!” she exclaims, eyes wide, “You’re Oliver Queen! The castaway billionaire!”

That would not be Oliver’s first choice if he were describing himself, but he goes with it, “That’s me.” He forces a smile but it cannot look very enticing. His days of casual smirks and fake smiles are long behind him now.

“What… what are you doing here? I think I’d have known if Oliver Queen went to my high school!” as she asks, her eyes dart down to his left hand, where it sits on the bar, and takes in the lack of a wedding ring. His bare finger must give her the confidence, because she takes the opportunity to slide closer and lean in flirtatiously.

“I’m here with someone.” Is all he gives, uncomfortable.

“No way! Who knew that someone from Valley High knew Oliver Queen? It’s so nice of you to come! I helped to organise this, you know.” She brags, completely unaware that Oliver is currently imagining how he would go about torturing her if he got the chance as he also holds back the instinct to let his fist fly into her face. He really does not want to cause a scene yet. Felicity would never forgive him and besides, he would rather not get arrested.

Susan gives Oliver no chance to talk before she is twisting, her hand raised as she summons someone, “Rochelle!” she yells, “Rochelle, look! It’s Oliver Queen! The billionaire!” Oliver does not bother to explain to her his exact financial situation since the takeover, nor does he have time to go into the fact that his girlfriend is actually the person who owns his family’s business now so he sort of is a billionaire but not really because she is sort of a billionaire but not really.

“Oliver,” Susan acknowledges him again, “This is Rochelle. She organised the reunion with me.”

“Oliver Queen?” the woman offers him her hand, “I’m Rochelle Davis, I think you used to know my fiancé? Robbie Fallow? His father is in charge of running The Mirage and he was kind enough to offer it up for the reunion. But of course, Robbie has told me all about his college years with you and Tommy Merlyn at Dartmouth. The three of you got up to quite a lot together! He says you were all inseparable before you and Tommy got kicked out.”

Not a word of what she is saying is resonating with Oliver. Beyond the fact that he and Tommy did, indeed, attend Dartmouth. It had been the second of the four universities Oliver had been kicked out of, after Cornell, and the last that he and Tommy had been allowed to attend together. After Dartmouth, Malcolm and Robert had decided to separate the boys as much as possible whilst maintaining their elitism, forcing Tommy to head to Pennsylvania and Oliver to go up to Harvard and once that had failed, Malcolm had given up on elitism in order to bring Tommy closer to home and keep a closer eye on him and Oliver had been able to fail his fourth and final university: Princeton.

What he does not remember about being at Dartmouth is spending time with anybody called Robbie Fallow. Not a single Robbie or a Rob or a Robert or even a Bob comes to mind. There is always the chance that he was too drunk to remember but he finds it hard to believe that he would completely forget any trace of somebody he was ‘inseparable’ from. Oliver cannot help but think that Robbie may have over exaggerated his closeness with the billionaires in order to impress his new fiancée. It would not be the first time.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember.” He answers, delighting in the way that her face falls, embarrassment and disappointment at not having the connection to him that she thought she did evident. It does not make up for her years of tormenting Felicity, but it does give him a small degree of satisfaction.

Susan, upset at being ignored for so long, takes the opportunity to leap into the conversation, “Well, Oliver, who did you come with? Or are you just here for _pleasure_ and thought you’d drop in to see what was on offer?” her voice is breathy and she is edging closer to Oliver in a way that makes him deeply uncomfortable.

It is at that moment that his knight in shining armour appears, radiant in her dress with her golden hair spilling around her shoulders. “Felicity.” He breathes, still as taken with her as he was on the first day he saw her.

“Felicity?” both of the women repeat, turning to look at what Oliver’s gaze is affixed on. No recognition sparks in either of them and Oliver thinks of the small, adorable, brown haired girl that they had gone to school with and compares her to the woman she is now. She was pretty back then, without a doubt, but in the years since she left Vegas, she has matured. She looks like a woman, not a girl and she carries herself with a confidence, a presence that she did not have back then. To him, she still looks so much like she did in those photos, but Oliver can understand somebody not recognising her as the fifteen year old they graduated with.

Felicity, on the other hand, knows immediately who the two women are. Her step falters nearly imperceptibly, only somebody with observational skills as keen as Oliver’s could notice it, and then she juts up her chin and strides over to her boyfriend.

*************************

“Hey.” She slides her hand into the crook of his elbow, silently taking his support.

“Hey.” He kisses her forehead, knowing how soft it makes him look but not being able to care. “Susan and Rochelle here were just introducing themselves to me.”

“Oh they were, were they?” Felicity raises an eyebrow, not missing the angry way that Susan in glaring at Oliver’s arm around hers.

“Yes. They were just telling me that they organised the event and mentioned how lucky it is that Rochelle is marrying the son of someone who works in the upper echelons here because that’s how they got such an amazing venue.”

“I’m sorry,” Rochelle has the look of somebody who feels like they know somebody but cannot quite pinpoint it, “Who are you again… Felicity, was it?”

“Yes!” Felicity smiles in a way that would make Oliver scared if he were on the receiving end of it, “I have changed a lot. Different hair colour, expensive dress, handsome boyfriend and all of that and I _was_ only fifteen last time we saw one another but I’m-”

“Felicity Smoak.” Rochelle finishes, recognition dawning on her face.

“That’s me.” She confirms.

“ _You’re_ Felicity Smoak?” Susan is gobsmacked. Felicity confirms with a nod, “But you’re…” Felicity never finds out what she is because the next moment sees three guys – one of whom is already developing a pot belly to rival those of men over a decade older than him – sidling up to join the aghast women talking to Oliver and Felicity.

The shortest of the three, an average looking man in his thirties already developing a bald spot and dressed in a suit worth more than most cars, plants himself next to Rochelle and places a hand around her waist. He must be the infamous Robbie.

“Hey, Sweetcakes,” Felicity tries not to let her feelings about that particular pet name become visible on her face and if she did not know any better, she would say that Rochelle is doing the same, “Who’s this you’re talking to.” So preoccupied is the almost-married Robbie with dragging his eyes lasciviously over Felicity’s legs that he has not noticed the man she is stood next to.

Rochelle sounds uncomfortable when she says, voice strained, “This is Felicity Smoak, she went to school with us and this is her…?”

“Boyfriend.” Oliver supplies, ignoring Susan’s glower.

“Her boyfriend, Oliver Queen.”

That gets Robbie’s attention. As does Rochelle’s glare, telling everybody how unhappy she is with her fiancé for exaggerating his relationship with Oliver Queen and embarrassing her.

“Oliver Queen?” the man squeaks.

“Apparently, you and I know one another.” Oliver barely even tries to hide his amusement, “From Dartmouth.”

“Uh… yeah. We were in some of the same classes. I remember going to a couple of your parties, you and Tommy Merlyn always threw the best parties.” He mumbles.

“Rochelle here said you’d told her we were really close. I have to admit, I don’t remember you at all but then again, Dartmouth was a bit of a blur.”

Robbie scrambles, “Uh…. I don’t know if I said we were _really_ close, just that we hung out a few times.”

“Okay.” Oliver is not subtle about how much he delights in how uncomfortable the other man is.

There is a moment of awkward silence as everybody in the group of seven tries to think of how to move the conversation past that. It is actually the man who is determinedly working on his pot belly, the man who can only be a decade older version of Chad Duke who speaks first, “Hey, did you say this is Felicity Smoak?” he asks, doing a double take as he re-examines Felicity, disbelieving, “The nerd?”

Felicity feels Oliver immediately tense up, muscles flexing as his body shifts into a posture that more resembles the Arrow than Oliver Queen. He is preparing for a battle.

“Oh yeah!” the third man, Rick Harvey exclaims, “You were that nerdy little kid who graduated with us all!”

Susan gets straight to the point, “How do you know Oliver Queen?”

Oliver spots his chance, and Felicity realises what his motivations have been all night, “Felicity and I actually met at my family’s company. After I returned to Starling, I was having some tech troubles and I asked my step-father, who was CEO at the time, who the best person to help would be and he pointed me straight in Felicity’s direction. She’s been my go-to girl ever since.” He brags.

“Oh, you work for his family’s company?” Susan is clearly insinuating the exact same thing that Isabel Rochev had a year and a half prior.

“I actually run it now. Or I will, once Oliver and I decide to end our extended vacation.” She replies, coldly. For as much as she had been reluctant to suffer the consequences of talking to this particular group of people, she knows her worth. If there is one thing that years of childhood bullying, dealing with Isabel Rochev and suffering through the QC rumour mill over the last few years has taught her, it is how to deal with people like Susan Dodger.

Oliver, for his part, is practically swelling with pride.

“You gave her your company?” Robbie asks, clearly unable to fathom handing his wealth to the woman in his life for any reason.

“I would have, if it had stayed mine. She was pretty much the one running it when I was CEO, I was useless. But QC actually underwent a hostile takeover when my sister was kidnapped just over a year ago and last summer it was bought by Ray Palmer. He hired Felicity on as his VP because he was smart enough to recognise her genius and Felicity’s had the company on the up ever since. She’s incredible at her job, the R and D department has come leaps and bounds since her appointment and obviously Ray knew that so he made her his successor in the event of his death and, unfortunately, he passed around a month ago, not long after Felicity and I left the city.”

The reminder of Ray’s death is always painful for Felicity but she draws strength from Oliver’s arm supportively surrounding her shoulders and pressing a kiss to her temple.

“So how long have the two of you been together?” Rochelle asks, her tone more polite than any of the others as she notices the tears in Felicity’s eyes for her lost friend and tries to move the conversation along.

“A few months.” Felicity answers, refocusing.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Oliver supplies, “I’ve been in love with Felicity for longer that even I really realised but things kept getting in the way. But now we’re finally together and I can’t remember ever being happier than I have in the last few months.” He is not even talking to their companions by the end, he is just looking down at Felicity, love shining from his eyes.

Felicity can feel the situation is about to turn into something far more heated than she is prepared for it to at her high school reunion, so she breaks their eye contact. The rest of the group is looking at them with varying degrees of disbelief, shock, jealousy and even, surprisingly, admiration on Rochelle’s part.

“Anyway, what have all of you been up to?” Felicity asks, not really caring for the answers but not willing to dive into anything else. The others just blink, trying to come up with something nearly as impressive as Felicity’s story and romance.

“Oh well… you know, this and that.” Chad says, inciting a series of nods around the others, “I’m sorry, I just can’t believe you’re _Felicity Smoak_. You’re… _hot_.”

Oliver bristles as Felicity replies coldly, “Not that my appearance has any bearing whatsoever on my value, but I _was_ only fifteen the last time you saw me.”

“Well, I think you’ve really grown into yourself.” Says Rochelle, “Both physically and mentally. You were always meant for great things. And, I can only speak for myself here, but over the last decade I’ve thought a lot about the way that we used to treat you and I know that it doesn’t change anything now but I am truly sorry. I have no excuses, it was unacceptable.”

Felicity did not expect that, “Well… thank you,” she replies, taken aback, “You’re right, it doesn’t change anything from back then but it does make me respect the person you have become. We’re not all the same people we were in high school, not even me and certainly not Oliver. I’m glad that you grew up.” Rochelle reaches out a hand to grasp Felicity’s amicably, laying their history to rest.

The other three are looking at Rochelle in about as much surprise as Felicity.

Rick, who up until that moment has been reserved, is the one who speaks this time, “Rochelle is right. It wasn’t cool of us and I’m also sorry.” The apology is nowhere near as heartfelt as Rochelle’s, more of an addendum to hers than anything else, but Felicity accepts it nonetheless. It was sincere if nothing else.

Chad is not one to be left out, “Yeah, me too. And hey, if it ever doesn’t work out with that guy, I’d totally be game if you wanted to hit me up.” Felicity has to tug on Oliver’s arm to hold him back as a growl escapes him and he puffs up his chest. Chad seems to realise his mistake and takes a small step back as he notices the muscles Oliver is packing.

“Okay,” she says, unwilling to continue the conversation any further in the wake of that, “I think it’s time Oliver and I head back to our hotel. It was nice seeing you again, Rochelle.” And with that, she leads Oliver away. His eyes do not stop glaring at Chad’s until they are out of sight.

*************************

Felicity goes to get both of their jackets as Oliver waits by the door, on guard. As he waits, he sees a familiar face approaching. Susan Dodger. She looks around him and notes Felicity’s absence before making her way to his side.

“Hey.” She pants, she has clearly chased after him, “If you ever get bored of miss preppy there, I’m _always_ available.” She pulls something from her bra, offering it to him. Oliver does not take it, merely giving it a cursory glance and noting that it has a number – presumably hers – written on it. “I can do all sorts of things with my tongue.”

Oliver huffs, “Look, I would say I’m flattered by the offer but I’m really not. I think I’ll stick with Felicity, thanks.”

“I promise you I am far more… _entertaining_ than her. What do you even talk about? She’s so dull!”

“I promise you that the life Felicity and I lead is far more entertaining than you could hope to imagine.” Oliver refuses to even look at her, “And the sex is fantastic too.” The door opens behind him, revealing Felicity who Oliver knows has heard their conversation with just one look. “You ready, Honey?” he asks, offering her his arm.

“Yep, let’s go.”

And they walk out without another glance at the rejected woman. Outside, they encounter Chad. He shrinks a little when he realises that it is Oliver.

“Hey Chad,” Felicity calls out, “My advice would be to learn how to respect women. Or at least how to talk to them.”

“And,” Oliver continues, “If you’re going to hit on them derogatively, make sure you don’t do it when someone who loves them and is trained to fight is stood right next to them.” And with that, he lets his fist fly, all of the pent up energy from the last few hours colliding into the other man’s face with a crunch. Without a second look, he and Felicity walk away, Felicity berating Oliver the whole way but he could not care less. With any luck, Chad will think twice before he next talks to a woman like she is little more than a piece of meat and that is more than worth it to him. Plus, the guy was mean to Felicity and anybody who ever upset Felicity deserves far worse in his opinion.

*************************

“Did you enjoy yourself?” he asks, once they are safely tucked in a car and heading back to their hotel.

“It was… not as bad as I expected.” She begrudgingly admits.

“Be honest,” he laughs, knowing how much she hates to be wrong, “You’re glad I convinced you to go.”

“Okay, getting an apology from Rochelle was unexpected and it was… nice. It took a weight that I didn’t realise I had off my shoulders.”

“And the look on Susan Dodgers face when I rejected her and led you out?”

“Oh yeah, that was priceless.” She giggles, grinning up at him, “Okay, fine. You were right. I’m glad we went.”

“I never got that dance you promised me though.” He complains.

Felicity laughs, “Who would have thought? Oliver Queen complaining about _not_ dancing.”

“I’ve found I quite like it with the right partner.”

“Well, how about I promise you a _very special_ , _private_ dance in this dress when we get back to our hotel?” she smirks.

Oliver gulps, “Is there a chance that the dress might fall off at some point during the dance?”

“Well these straps _are_ ever so flimsy.”

He swoops in for a kiss, only stopping because he catches the driver looking at them. “I love you.” He says tucking her into him, “Like I said to you before, whatever experiences you had to go through, I am still glad that you did. They shaped the amazing woman before me today and you know how much I love her. I wouldn’t change her for the world.”

“You know that works both ways, right?” she replies, “I love you with everything in me, just the way you are Oliver Queen.”

*************************

When they relay the evening to Donna the next day (a few hours later than planned thanks to them wearing one another out the night before) she kisses Oliver gleefully on the cheek with a delighted squeal when they get to the part about Susan and Chad at the end. She thoroughly approves. Particularly of how in love Oliver Queen is with her daughter.

**Author's Note:**

> I went a little soft at the end :D
> 
> I hope that you enjoyed this and that you're safe! I'm on twitter [@MagusLibera](https://twitter.com/MagusLibera) if you want to say hi!
> 
> [Black Lives Matter](https://blacklivesmatter.carrd.co/).


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